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Drive Oregon yesterday announced that it has joined the U.S. Department of Energy’s Workplace Charging Challenge, a collaborative initiative to increase the number of U.S. employers offering workplace charging by tenfold in the next five years.

To help reach this goal, Drive Oregon has hired Zach Henkin to lead its work in this area.

Drive Oregon’s participation as an Ambassador in DOE’s Workplace Charging Challenge was announced by David Danielson, assistant secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

“We are thrilled to be part of this effort,” said Jeff Allen, Executive Director of Drive Oregon. “Oregon employers led the way in providing lockers and other facilities for bicycle commuters, and we believe they will step up to support employees who choose clean electric vehicles as well.”

In addition to encouraging workplace charging, Henkin will lead Drive Oregon’s work to build an Energizing Oregon coalition to promote wider use of electric vehicles, as called for in the Memorandum of Understanding Drive Oregon recently signed with Governor Kitzhaber’s office and the Oregon Department of Transportation.

“By making charging more convenient, and growing the demand for these vehicles, we will also help accelerate the growth of this $266 million industry in Oregon,” noted Allen.

Henkin previously worked in both the solar industry and the car rental industry, and recently completed his MBA at Marylhurst University.

Drive Oregon describes itself as a nonprofit public-private partnership with diverse membership from across the range of companies and organizations involved in electrifying the transportation system. Drive Oregon is funded in part with Oregon State Lottery Funds administered by Business Oregon.